Method for producing a fabric



July 18, 1967 R. H. MARKS METHOD FOR PRODUCING A FABRIC 4 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Nov. 23, 1964 fiona/a /7. Mark: 1 INVENTOR.

July 18, 1967 R.-H. MARKS METHOD FOR PRODUCING A FABRIC 4 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Nov. 23, 1964 Rona/o Mark:

I INVENTOR. zw/w July 18, 1967 I R. H. MARKS 3,331,222

METHOD FOR PRODUCING A FABRIC Filed Nov. 23, 1964 4 Sheetsheet 3ATTO/P/VEJ J y 1967 R. H. MARKS 3,331,222

METHOD FOR PRODUCING A FABRIC Filed Nov. 23, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Rona/0 6 Mar/kt INVENTOR.

A rra/wvf w United States Patent 3,331,222 METHOD FOR PRODUCING A FABRICRonald H. Marks, Dallas, Tex., assignor to American fan Company, NewYork, N.Y., a corporation of New ersey Filed Nov. 23, 1964, Ser. No.413,261 12 Claims. (Cl. 66-402) The present application is acontinuation-in-part of my prior pending application Ser. No. 371,717filed June I, 1964, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for theutilization of substandard fibers and some waste fibers, such as cottonmotes and other fibers, whereby the fibers are processed into a usefulform and the fabric produced thereby.

Mechanized agriculture, such as the picking of cotton with machines, hasnecessitated improvements in the techniques of cleaning fibers. Thetechnical advances in cleaning fibers have resulted in improvement inthe cleaned fibers, both in the higher grades and the lower grades. Theresidue-fibers from the lower grade fibers, which in the case of cottonfibers are linters and motes, are short and exhibit little strengthcharacteristics for utilization in normal textile manufacturing. Theterm cotton motes as used herein is intended to describe thosesubstandard cotton fibers which may include immature fibers, discoloredfibers, short fibers and particles of material other than fibers. Theseresidue fibers are frequently oif-color and even though they have beencleaned with the improved cleaning techniques they include particles ofmaterials other than fibers, such as stems, leaves and bolls. Otherfibers, such as rayon and synthetic materials, may be short, off-coloror below standard grade. These short and below standard grade fibers arenormally not capable of textile conversion when they are spun into ayarn as they do not have the uniform strength required for knitting andtheir general use has been as mass fibers for bedding and other similarproducts.

The term substandard fibers as used herein shall mean fibers which inthe past have not been readily used in normal production of a fabric byknitting. Many of the substandard fibers, as herein defined, may beprocessed into a yarn, but such fibers will produce a yarn which doesnot have uniform tensile strength throughout its length and therefore isnot readily used in knitting. The present invention also contemplatesthe use of yarns of commercial grade fibers in which the yarns produced,by reason of the incorporation of substandard fibers, impurities orimproper yarn processing, do not have the uniform tensile strengthrequired by normal production knitting. Such yarns may includesubstantial lengths having suitable tensile strength with intermittentweak sections. These weak sections make the yarns unsuitable for normalknitting.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus for utilizing substandard fibers in the knitting offabric.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus to knit elements of a material not suitable for normalknitting into a fabric.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus to combine such substandard fibers with other materials andknit the combination into a fabric.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for producing a relatively inexpensive knitted fabric fromsuch substandard fibers.

3,331,222 Patented July 18, 1967 ice A still further object of thepresent invention is to provide a method and apparatus for combiningsubstandard fibers with paper to form a relatively inexpensive knitfabric.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for knitting a fabric in which each knitting station is fedtwo elements, at least one of said elements being unsuitable forknitting, and said elements are interen-ga-ged into a combination orcomposite element suit-able for knitting.

Another object is to provide a knitted fabric including a plurality ofstrands which include two elements, one of which has a nonuniformtensile strength.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus utilizing yarns having nonuniform tensile strength in theknitting of fabric.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a methodand apparatus for jointly feeding substandard fibers and paper strips toa knitting machine wherein the paper strips are crimped on the fibersduring knitting to provide a combination material element havingsubstantially greater uniformity of tensile strength suitable for theknitting of a fabric.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for jointly feeding yarns having nonuniform tensile strengthand paper strips to a knitting machine wherein the paper strips arecrimped On the yarns during knit-ting to provide a combination orcomposite material element having substantially greater uniformity oftensile strength suitable for the knitting into a fabric.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for producing a fabric from substandard fibers wherein thefibers are matted into a suitable form for feeding to a knitting machineand are combined with elements of sheet material fed to such knittingmachine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method ofcompressing and bonding substandard fibers to a continuous sheet andthereafter dividing such sheet into elements and knitting a fabric fromsuch elements.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for forming a continuous sheet of substandard fibers anddividing such sheet into elements and thereafter combining such elementswith additional elements for knitting into a fabric.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus in which two types of elements may be knitted into a fabricwhere neither of the elements would have sufiicient strength forknitting.

These and other objects of the present invention will be readilyunderstood from the following explanation and description of the detailsof the system which are illustrated in the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an apparatus forming afabric from a plurality of elements derived from a web of material towhich a layer of substandard fibers has been bonded;

FIGURE 2 is another similar representation of another apparatus forminga fabric from a plurality of elements derived from matted substandardfibers and a plurality of elements derived from a web of material;

FIGURE 3 is another representation of an apparatus forming a fabric froma plurality of yarns having nonuniform tensile strength and a pluralityof elements derived from a web of material;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged view of the feeding mechanism used in theapparatus of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE is an enlarged detail view of knitting needles receiving andcombining a yarn having nonuniform tensile strength with a stripelement;

FIGURE 6 is an illustration of the tension device for the strip elementsof FIGURE 3 and the electric shutoff circuit associated therewith;

FIGURE 7 is a detailed view of one loop of the fabric produced by themethod and apparatus of the present invention;

FIGURE 7A is a sectional view of the loop shown in FIGURE 7 taken alonglines 7A7A of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 7B is a similar sectional view taken along lines 7B7B of FIGURE7; and

FIGURE 7C is another sectional view and is taken along lines 7C7C ofFIGURE 7.

Since the substandard fibers contemplated by the present invention havelittle use except as massed fibers or for yarns having nonuniformtensile strength, such fibers are relatively inexpensive. These fibersor their yarns do not have sufficiently uniform tensile strength to beutilized to form a fabric on ordinary knitting machines. They areutilized by the present invention in combination with elements of othermaterials wherein the fabric produced utilizes the strength which isavailable in such fibers. By proper selection of the other material thecost of the fabric produced will be limited so that the fabric producedwill be inexpensive and disposable after a single use.

The material used in combination with the substandard fibers should beselected to provide the desired fabric. Such material should alsoprovide sufficient strength and reinforcement for the substandard fibersto allow the fabric to be produced on standard knitting machines.

Such strong inexpensive material will also have many additional endproduct uses. Also, other fabrics may easily be produced by the methodand apparatus of the present invention which utilize substandard fibersand paper or other suitable material.

In the form of the apparatus illustrated in FIGURE 1 the substandardfibers are delivered to a suitable distributing device through the upperhopper 11. Distributing device 10 may be any suitable means forreceiving and processing the fibers whereby they are discharged from thelower portion of the device 10 through the outlet 12 as a hat of looselypiled random fibers indicated generally at 14 onto web 9 from roll 8which may be of any slittable material, such as plastic film or paper.Web 9 and bat 14 are supported by endless belt conveyor 13. Distributingdevice 10 may be a carding machine having means to assure that itsdischarge of fibers will have relatively uniform thickness and uniformwidth as required by the additional apparatus of the present inventionhereinafter more fully explained.

The bat 14 of fibers is delivered to tray 11311 by the endless belt 13and through the treating zone 15 wherein the bat of fibers is subjectedto a treating liquid. In the figure the treating liquid is shown to bedripping onto the bat 14 from the treating liquid applying means 16. Themeans 16 is shown in the form of a trough having a lower slot throughwhich the treating liquid may drip onto the bat 14. Any suitable means,such as sprayers, submerged roller applicators or other devices, may beused for the application of the treating liquid to the bat 14 withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present invention.

Care should be taken in the selection of the means 16 to preserve thecontinuity of bat 14 during the application of such treating liquid. Thefibers of bat 14 are loosely piled fibers and therefore will not havesufficient strength for some certain types of treating liquidapplicators, particularly those which tend to exert a pull on bat 14even though bat 14 is supported by web 9. Treating liquid may be appliedto the substandard fibers prior to their discharge onto web 9.

In the use of treating liquid it is suggested that a suitable treatingliquid, such as a starch, be applied to the bat 14 which will cause theindividual fibers when later processed to have sufficient cohesivenessand adhesivencss to web 9 to provide the necessary tensile strengthrequired by the remainder of the apparatus of the invention.

With the bat 14 and web 9 wet from the application of the treatingliquid they are delivered to the light rolls 17 and 18. On passingbetween the rolls 17 and 18, bat 14 is substantially compressed and theweb of material discharged from rolls 17 and 18 will have substantiallyless thickness than the original combined thickness of bat 14 and web 9.This web of material will, because of the treating liquid, retain itscompressed condition on discharge from the rolls 17 and 18 due to the atleast partial bonding between the fibers and to the web 9 by thetreating liquid. The web of material from the rolls 17 and 18 isdelivered on tray 113b to the heavy rolls 19 and 20. The web of materialis further compressed by rolls 19 and 20 into a substantially continuousbonded flat sheet or web of material including the compressed fibers andthe web 9.

It should be noted that depending on the type of treating liquid appliedto the bat 14, one or more of the rolls 17, 18, 19 and 20 may be heatedto effect a partial setting of the treating liquid during thecompression of the fibers into the web or sheet of material dischargedfrom such rolls. This heating may be applied to the web separately at aposition between the two sets of rolls whereby the treating liquid willbe sufficiently set that the sheet or web of material will maintain itscompressed condition on discharge from the rolls ]9 and 20.

The web 21 of compressed fiber material and Web 9 discharged from therolls 19 and 20 is delivered on tray 1130 to the slitting device 22wherein the Web 21 is divided into a plurality of elements 23. Theseelements are suitably separated and guided to the knitting machine 24.As shown, knitting machine 24 is of the rotating cylinder type whereinthe flexible feed guides 25 are stationary and the cylinder and knittingneedles rotate within the machine to form a fabric from the elementsdelivered to the knitting machine.

The feed guides 25 on knitting machine 24 are resilient or flexiblewires which are suitably secured to the support ring 25a. Legs 25bextend upwardly from machine 24 to maintain support ring 25a and feedguides 25 in proper position above machine 24. A loop 250 is provided inthe end of each of feed guides 25 through which the elements 23 pass.Feed guides 25, because of their flexibility, will assist in themaintenance of proper tension in elements 23 during knitting. It isfurther suggested that when the material of web 9 is paper, ascontemplated in some uses of the present invention, the paper portion ofthe elements retain a degree of dampness for feeding to the knittingmachine 24.

A belt or chain drive connection 26 is shown connecting from theknitting machine 24 to the slitting device 22 whereby the feed ofelements 23 to a knitting machine 24 Will be synchronized with theknitting speed of the knitting machine 24. It should be noted that thespeed of rolls 17, 18, 19 and 20, the speed of conveyor 13 and the feedfrom the distributing device 10 onto the conveyor 13 should also besuitably synchronized with the speed of the knitting machine whereby theprocess of forming and knitting the elements 23 will be continuous.

It is further desired that a minimum amount of tension be maintained inthe elements 23 because of their relatively limited tensile strength.However, it is further necessary that the elements 23 not be fed to theknitting machine at a rate faster than they are utilized by the knittingmachine and therefore synchronization in timing of all parts of thesystem for the continuous formation of the fabric produced by theknitting machine is desired. This synchronization in the timing of thecomponents of the apparatus may be accomplished by any suitable meansincluding the pre-setting of the speed of each of the components or theinterconnection of the components through suitable belting, gearing ortransmissions whereby the formation of the fabric may be continuous atvarying speeds. The components of the equipment hereinbefore describedare provided with suitable supporting structure 27, a part of which, thesupport for roll 8, endless belt 13 and distributing device are notshown in the drawing.

The elements 23 which are fed to knitting machine 24 are combinations ofstrips of web 9 with fibers which originally form bat 14 being at leastpartially bonded to the web strips and on which the fibers arecompressed and partially bonded to each other. The inclusion of web 9will provide sufiicient tensile strength to elements 23 whereby thesubstandard fibers may be incorporated therewith into the knittedfabric. Thus, such substandard fibers may be used in the knitted fabricwherein they will provide substantial body to the fabric product.

The material used for web 9 may be of any suitable material which isdesired in the fabric to be produced. It has been found that a papermaterial when combined with substandard fibers, such as cotton motes,and knitted into a fabric, in accordance with the present invention,will result in a relatively strong fabric which will have a relativelylow cost. Such fabrics may be readily used in baling cotton in place ofjute or other materials presently being used.

In FIGURE 2 the drawing of the apparatus illustrated to the left of thedrawing is substantially the same as the apparatus of FIGURE 1 with theexception that the roll 8 and the web 9 are not used. The apparatus tothe right of the drawing is substantially the apparatus as shown in myprior co-pending application, Ser. No. 299,358, filed Aug. 1, 1963 nowPatent No. 3,214,943. In the form of apparatus illustrated in FIGURE 2,the substandard fibers are delivered to a suitable distributing device28 through the upper hopper 29. Distributing device 28 may be a suitablemeans for receiving the fibers and processing the fibers whereby theyare discharged from the lower portion of the device 28, out through theoutlet 30, and onto the endless belt 31 as a bat of loosely piled,random fibers, indicated generally at 32. Distributing device 28 may bea carding machine having means to assure that this discharge of fiberswill have relatively uniform thickness and uniform width as required bythe additional apparatus of this form of the present inventionhereinafter more fully explained.

The bat 32 of fibers is delivered by the endless belt 31 onto supportingtray 131a and through treating zone 33 wherein the bat of fibers issubjected to a treating liquid. In the figure the treating liquid isshown to be dripping onto the bat 32 from the treating liquid applyingmeans 34. The means 34 is shown in the form of a trough having a lowerslot through which the treating liquid may drip onto the bat 32. Anysuitable means, such as Sprayers, submerged roller applicators, or otherdevices, may be used for the application of treating liquid to the bat32 without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Particular care should be taken in the selection of the treating means34 to preserve the continuity of the bat 32 during the application ofsuch treating liquid. The fibers of bat 32 being loosely piled fibersand unsupported by a continuous web, such as the web 9 shown in FIGURE1, may not have sufiicient strength for some types of treating liquidapplicators, particularly those which tend to exert a pull on bat 32 andthose which do not provide adequate support for bat 32.

The treating liquid to be used in the treating liquid applying means 34should be similar to that used in reference to FIGURE 1. Such liquidshould provide sufficient cohesiveness to provide the necessary tensilestrength to the bat 32 which is required by the remainder of theapparatus of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 2 through which the bat32 is processed.

With the bat 32 wet from the application of the treating liquid, it isdelivered on tray 131a to the light rolls 35 and 36. On passing betweenrolls 35 and 36, bat 32 is substantially compressed and the web ofmaterial discharged therefrom will have substantially reduced thicknessas compared to the original thickness of bat 32. This web of materialwill, because of the treating liquid, retain its compressed condition ondischarge from the rolls 35 and 36 due to the at least partial bondingbetween the fibers of bat 32 by the treating liquid. The web of materialfrom the rolls 35 and 36 is thereafter delivered on tray 131b to theheavy rolls 37 and 38. The Web of material is further compressed byrolls 35 and 36 into a substantially continuous bonded flat sheet or webof compressed fibers.

As previously stated in relation to the apparatus at FIGURE 1, the rolls35, 36, 37 and 38 may be heated to effect a partial setting of thetreating liquid during the compression of the fibers. Such heating mayalso be applied to the web separately at a position between the two setsof rolls whereby the treating liquid will be sufiiciently set that thesheet or -web of material discharged therefrom will maintain itscompressed condition on discharge from rolls 37 and 38.

The web 39 of compressed fiber material discharged from rolls 37 and 38is delivered on tray 131c to the slitting device 40 wherein the web 39is divided into a plurality of elements 41. These elements 41 aresuitably separated and guided to the knitting machine 42. As shown,knitting machine 42 is of the rotary type wherein the flexible feedguides 43 are stationary and the cylinder and knitting needles rotatewithin the machine to form a fabric from the elements delivered to theknitting machine.

The feed guides 43 on knitting machine 42 are resilient or flexiblewires which are suitably secured to the support ring 43a. Legs 43bextend upwardly from machine 42 to maintain support ring 43a and feedguides 43 in proper position above machine 24. A loop 436 is provided inthe end of each of feed guides 43 through which the elements 41 pass.Feed guides 43 because of their flexibility will assist in themaintenance of proper tension in elements 41 during the knitting.

The belt or chain drive connection 44 is shown connecting the knittingmachine 42 to the slitting device 40 whereby the feed of the elements 41to the knitting machine 42 will be synchronized 'with the speed of theknitting machine 42. It should be noted that the speed of rolls 35, 36,37 and 38, the speed of conveyor 31 and the feed from the distributingdevice 28 onto the conveyor 31 should also be suitably synchronized withthe speed of the knitting machine whereby the process of forming andknitting the elements 41 will be continuous.

It is further desired that a minimum amount of tension be maintained inthe elements 41 and therefore coordination in the timing of all parts ofthe system for forming the fabric is desired. Such synchronization andtiming as suggested in relation to the device of FIGURE 1 may besuitably used.

The components of the equipment hereinbefore described are provided withsuitable supporting structure 45. The part of structure 45 whichprovides support for endless belt 31 and distributing device 28 is notshown in FIGURE 2.

The apparatus in FIGURE 2 to the right of knitting machine 42 includessupporting structure 46 providing support for the rotatively mountedroll 47 of web material. The web 48 unwinds from the roll 47 and extendsthrough the tension adjuster 49 and slitting device 50 wherein theelements 51 are formed from the web 4 8 without the severing of theconnection of the elements 51 to the web 48.

The elements 51 from slitting device 58 are conducted over guide roll151 and also over treating roll 152. Treating roll 152 is shown to bepartially submerged in the liquid contained in treating tank 153 and isused to supply suflicient treating liquid to the elements 51 to renderthem amenable to the knitting operation. When elements 51 are paper, aslight wetting will add substantially to the flexibility of such paperstrips. Elements 51 extend from treating roll 152 through comb 154,tension adjuster 155 and flexible feed guides 156 to the individualknitting stations on knitting machine 42. Since the rupture of any ofthe elements 51 will necessitate a stopping of the knitting, the feedguides 156 have been provided to not only compensate for any variationin tension of the elements 51 but also to provide an automatic shutdownfor the whole apparatus, as hereinafter more fully explained withreference to the apparatus details of FIG- URE 6. At the knittingmachine 42 the elements 51 are combined with the elements 41, ashereinafter more fully described.

A suitable drive mechanism 52 is provided to control the feeding of theelements 51 to the knitting machine 42. It is necessary that the feedingspeed of the elements 51 to the knitting machine 42 be synchronized withthe speed of the knitting machine whereby proper tension is maintainedin the elements 51.

A typical example of the method and apparatus, illustrated in FIGURE 2,would be the feeding to a knitting machine of the elements 41 formedfrom substandard fibers in contiguous relationship with the elements 51formed from a web 48 from a roll 47 of paper material. It has been foundto be desirable to combine paper elements with the substandard fiberssince the paper will at least partially engage the substandard fiberelements. With both elements 41 and 51 being in the form of relativelynarrow strips of material, the individual elements will, however, gainstrength through their combination by engagement with the knittingneedles (hereinafter more fully explained) and when combined in a fabricwill have the desired characteristics.

The elements 51 Will be simultaneously fed to the knitting machine 42 incontiguous relationship with the elements 41 and will greatly assist thefeeding of the elements 41 to the knitting machine. It is also suggestedthat material other than paper may be utilized to form the elements 51which are to be combined and knitted with the elements 41 to form afabric, and any suitable material desired in the end product whichcombines with the fiber elements as hereinafter explained may be used inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

In FIGURE 3, an apparatus is illustrated including a knitting machine 53which is fed by strip elements from an apparatus, such as is illustratedin the right side of FIGURE 2 and as clearly described in myaforementioned prior co-pending application, and also is fed by yarnhaving nonuniform tensile strength.

The spools 54 of such yarn 55 are concurrently fed to the individualknitting stations of the knitting machine 53 with the elements 56 fromthe apparatus illustrated to the right of the knitting machine 53.

The yarn 55 passes from the spools 54 upwardly through the loop 54a inflexible feed guides 54b, then downwardly inside of support ring 540 andguide ring 54d to the individual knitting stations. Support ring 540 andguide ring 54d are each suitably supported from machine 53 but suchsupports are not shown. Flexible guides 54b are suitably secured tosupport ring 54c.

The element-forming apparatus of FIGURE 3, as shown, is substantiallyidentical to that apparatus previously described and includes thesupport structure 57 on which the roll 58 supplying the web 59 isrotatively mounted, the tension adjuster 60, the slitting device 61, thedrive mechanism 62 and the suitable element guiding means, such as theroll 64, and the comb 65. p

The web 59 is withdrawn from the roll 58 and fed through the tensionadjuster 60 to the slitting device 61 wherein the web is divided into aplurality of elements 56. The elements 56 are led over guide roller 64and across treating roller 164 which is positioned in treating tank 165at least partially submerged in the liquid contained therein to apply asuitable amount of such liquid to the elements 56. These elements 56 arethen separated by the comb 65 and fed through the tension adjuster 166and the flexible feed guides 167 to the knitting stations on knittingmachine 53. The detail structure of feed guides 167 is hereinafter morefully explained with reference to FIGURE 6.

It should be understood that spools 54 of yarn 55 may readily bereplaced by cans supplying roving of substandard fibers to the knittingmachine 53. In either case the yarn or roving will be assisted infeeding to the knitting machine by combination with the elements 56prior to engagement into the fabric by the knitting needles of themachine 53 whereby the yarn 55 or roving will be subjected to a verylimited amount of tension, and such tension will be only that necessaryto cause the yarn to move from the spools, through the yarn guides 66and to the feeding mechanism 67 wherein the yarn will be fed with theelements 56 to the knitting needles.

If desired, the yarn 55 or roving used in the apparatus illustrated inFIGURE 3 have been subjected to a treating liquid to provide somecohesiveness of the fibers whereby the yarn or roving will withstand thenecessary pull to be delivered to the feeding mechanisms 67 of theknitting machine 53.

Where a treating liquid is applied to the substandard fibers which isnot desired in the end product, a liquid should be used, such as starch,which can be readily washed from the fabric produced withoutsubstantially reducing the strength of the fabric. The fabric formed byany of the three forms of apparatus illustrated in the figures willinclude substandard fiber elements and the strip elements. The stripelements will be fed with the substandard fiber elements to the knittingmachine and will, when originally engaged by the knitting needles, becrimped to at least partially engage such fiber elements. With suchengagement the combined elements will be knitted into a fabric whichwill appear to have a plurality of composite elements rather than aplurality of individual elements.

It is generally preferred in the process of the present invention thatthe additional elements used with the fiber elements or yarn be in theform of continuous strips. In such form the strips will, when engaged bythe needles of a knitting machine, have a tendency to fold. Such foldingof the strips will implement the inter-engagement between the strips andthe substandard fiber elements to assist the drawing of the substandardfiber elements into the fabric and to form composite elements in thefabric produced.

Referring to FIGURES 4 and 5, it can be seen that strip element and yarn192 are fed to separate eyelet guides 68 and 69, respectively, providedin the upper portion of feeding mechanism 67. The bracket 70 is securedin feeding mechanism 67 and is provided with an aperture 71 throughwhich both yarn 192 and strip element 190 in contiguous relationship toeach other are fed to the needles 72. It should be noted that feedingmechanism 67 is secured to the stationary portion of the knittingmachine 53 and that the needles 72 move around the interior thereof sothat they continually move past the individual brackets 70 and engagethe yarn 192 and strips 190 which are fed through the aperture 71 of thebrackets 70. It should be noted that the yarn 192 is illustrated in bothFIGURES 4 and 5 as having thinned or weakened sections 193.

As shown in FIGURE 5, the element 192 and element 190 are guided throughthe aperture 71 so that both elements are directed beneath the hookportions of the needles 72. Preferably the strip element 190 is guidedagainst the shank portion of the needles, with the yarn element 192adjacent said strip element; however, by reason of the speed ofoperation of the knitting machine 9 "and the attendant vibration,portions of the yarn may engage the shank portions of said hooks;however, so long as the combined elements are positioned beneath thehook portions of the needles, said needles will function to cause atleast partial interengagement of the elements as the needles reciprocateto perform the knitting operation. In passing through aperture 71 thestrips 190 and yarn 192 will move in contiguous relationship, and whenengaged by the hooks of needles 72 will be at least partially engaged byfolding and crimping of strips 190. This engagement produces combinationelement 74 or core yarn. When element 74 is pulled through thepreviously formed loops, this engagement is sufiicient to make element74 sufiiciently strong to withstand such action vand the knitting actionof pulling element 74 through the loops will consolidate the engagementbetween strips 190 and yarn 192. Thus, the action of the needlessimultaneously forms a core yarn by the interengagement of the elementsof difierent materials and also knits the core yarns into a fabric. Asused herein, core yarn or combination or composite element means thatelement which is formed from at least two different materials by thecrimping action of the needles.

It should be noted that while FIGURES 4, and 7 illustrate that the stripelement 190 has been crimped into engagement with yarn 192 in a positioncompletely surrounding yarn 192, the engagement of yarn 192 by strip 190will not always take this position but may just engage a portion of yarn192. However, in accordance with the present invention there will alwaysbe at least a partial inter-engagement or interconnection between yarn192 and strip 190 so that the combination element 74 which ultimatelyappears in the fabric will be a composite of the two components. Informing combination element 74, the weakness of yarn 192 will bestrengthened by the available strength of the strip 190 to prevent therupture of yarn 192 during that portion of the knitting operation whenthe greatest strain is placed upon the yarn, i.e., during the pulling ofthe combination element 74 through the loops of the previously formedfabric. FIGURE 7 illustrates one loop of the fabric formed by theknitting of the combination elements 74 being composed of the individualyarn 192 and strips 190.

The aforementioned inter-engagement between the yarn 192 and the strip190 is a random positioning. This is illustrated by the sectional viewsof FIGURES 7A, 7B and 7C. As shown in some portions of the fabricformed, the strip 190 may completely surround the yarn as shown inFIGURES 7 and 7A. In other portions of the fabric there will be only apartial surrounding of the yarn 192 by the strip 190 as illustrated inFIGURES 7B, while other portions may only have a partial condensing orfolding of the strip 190 onto a portion of the yarn 192 as illustratedin FIGURE 7C. Such inter-engagement or interconnection is sufficient toform a core yarn or composite strand which is capable of being knittedinto a fabric with other such composite strands by the needles.

The details of flexible strip guides 175, similar to guides 156illustrated in FIGURE 2 and guides 167 illustrated in FIGURE 3, areshown in FIGURE 6. The strips 176 feeding from the tension adjuster 177are delivered through the hook 178 of guides 175. The hook 178 ispositioned at the outer end of the guides 175 and the inner end ofguides 175 is secured to the frame of the supporting structure. Theflexibility of guides 175- will maintain a substantially constanttension in the strips 176 during all normal operations. The guides 175further provide a shutoff device when one of the strips 176 ruptures.Upon rupture of one of the strips 176, the guide 175 will spring upwardinto engagement with bar 179, thereby making a connection in the shutoffcircuit. This circuit is provided with a battery or other suitable powersource 180 having one terminal connection to the fixed end of guides 175and the other terminal connecting to one terminal each of the alarm 181and switch 182. The

other terminals of alarm 181 and switch 182 are connected to the bar179. When one of the strips 176 ruptures, its flexible guide will springupwardly into contact with the bar 179, thereby completing the circuit,actuating the alarm 181, and energizing the solenoid to open the switch182. The switch 182 should be connected to the main circuit (not shown)for the whole apparatus whereby when one of the strips 176 ruptures thewhole apparatus will immediately be shut down until the ruptured stripcan be rethreaded to the knitting machine.

With the contiguous feeding of two types of elements to each knittingstation of a knitting machine and with the engagement between such typesof elements resulting from the action of the hooks of knitting needles,it is possible to produce a fabric from two types of elements, neitherof which would have sufiicient strength for knitting by itself. Thus,where cotton motes and paper are to be used for knitting, the paperelements may be relatively inexpensive and thereby allow the productionof a fabric which is suificiently inexpensive to be disposable after asingle use.

Many other combinations of types of elements may be knit into a fabricby the method and apparatus of the present invention. Plastic materialsmay be combined with paper or with substandard fibers and knit into afabric. A rayon yarn not suitable for knitting may be knit with elementsof paper by the method and apparatus of the present invention to form afabric.

From the foregoing it may be seen that the present invention hasprovided a method and apparatus for knitting a fabric from substandardfibers, which fabic is relatively inexpensive and utilizes additionalmaterial such as paper in the combination with the substandard fibers.Such method and apparatus also allow the production of a fabric fromrandom piled substandard fibers by suitably treating, compressing, thefibers into a web, slitting the web, and combining the fiber strips withelements from a web of material to be knit into the desired fabric. Themethod and apparatus of the present invention also combine a yarn havingnonuniform tensile strength with strips whereby a combination elementresults in the fabric and the combination element is formed by at leastpartial engagement of the yarn by the strips with the strips beingcrimped or compressed to form such engagement.

Further, the method and apparatus of the present invention also allowthe use of two types of elements in knitting wherein either one or bothof the types of elements may not have sufiicient strength to be knitinto a fabric. In the present invention, the fabric produced includesthe knitted dual strands each of which includes a substandard elementand a second element.

The fore-going disclosure and description of the invention areillustrative and explanatory thereof and various changes in the size,shape and materials, :as well as in the details of the illustratedconstruction, may be made within the scope of the appended claimswithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of producing a fabric from yarn elements and stripelements,

said yarn elements having non-uniform tensile strength and beingincapable of passing through a knitting operation without interruptionof the knitting operation due to rupture of said yarn elements,

said strip elements being amenable to knitting,

said method comprising, feeding at least one of said yarn elements toeach knitting station of a knitting machine,

simultaneously feeding at least one strip element to each knittingstation of the knitting machine,

the strip and yarn elements fed to each of said knitting stations beingfed in contiguous relationship to each other to the needles of saidknitting machine so that said needles engage both elements to deformsaid strip elements substantially about said yarn elements to form theminto a composite strand which is capable of being knitted with othercomposite strands into a fabric by said needles, and

knitting said composite strands on said knitting machine to produce afabric.

2. The method of producing a fabric according to claim 1 wherein,

said yarn elements are at least partially adhesively bonded to saidstrip elements.

3. The method of producing a fabric according to claim 1 wherein,

said yarn elements are fed to said knitting machine to form a pluralityof sources of substandard fiber yarn.

4. The method of feeding elements of two different materials to aknitting machine, the elements of one material being a strip and theelements of the other material being a yarn, including feeding at leastone of each of said elements of the two materials to each knittingstation of the knitting machine, and

guiding said elements in contiguous relationship to the needles of theknitting machine to position a portion of the strip element between theneedles and the yarn element whereby engagement by and pulling of theneedles deform the strip element into at least partial engagement withthe yarn element to form a core yarn during the knitting operation.

5. The method of feeding elements to a knitting machine according tocliam 4, wherein said yarn elements are composed of a plurality ofsubstandard fibers.

6. The method of feeding elements of two different materials to aknitting machine, the elements of one material being a strip and theelements of the other material being a yarn, including feeding at leastone of each of said elements of the two materials to each knittingstation of the knitting machine, and

guiding said elements in contiguous relationship to each other to theneedles of the knitting machine to direct the strip element against theshank of the needles whereby engagement by and movement of the needlesdeform the strip element into at least partial engagement with the yarnelement to form a core yarn.

7. The method of feeding elements according to claim 6, with theadditional steps of moving the needles in a to the elements,

said downward movement of said needles pulling said core yarn through apreviously formed loop to further consolidate the previously formed coreyarn.

8. The method of producing a fabric on a knitting machine from elementsof two materials, the elements of one material being in strip form andthe elements of the other material being in yarn form, including feedingat least one of each of said elements to each knitting station of theknitting machine, guiding said elements at each knitting station incontiguous relationship to each other to the needles of the knittingmachine with the strip element being directed against the shank of theneedles, and

knitting a fabric from a core yarn which is simultaneously formed duringthe knitting operation by reason of the needles engaging the contiguouselements to deform the strip element into at least partial engagementwith said yarn element to produce said core yarn. 9. The method ofproducing a fabric from two different materials on a knitting machine,including dividing a web of compressed, adhesively bonded substandardfibers into a plurality of yarn elements,

producing a plurality of strip elements of a material havingcharacteristics which render the strip elements amenable to knitting,

downward direction relative feeding one of said yarn elements and one ofsaid strip elements to each knitting station of a knitting machine,

guiding said elements at each knitting station in contiguousrelationship to each other to the needles of the knitting machine todirect the strip element into at least partial contact with the shank ofthe needles whereby movement of the needles deforms the strip elementinto at least partial engagement with the yarn element to form a coreyarn, and

knitting said core yarns into a fabric.

10. The method of producing a fabric on a knitting machine in accordancewith claim 9, including the additional steps of,

feeding a continuous bat of substandard fibers to a treating zonewherein said bat comprises a pile of loose, random fibers of a definitewidth and a substantially uniform thickness,

impregnating said bat with a treating liquid in the treating zone, and

compressing said bat of treated fibers leaving the treating zone into arelatively thin web of material wherein the fibers are at leastpartially bonded together by the treating liquid,

the foregoing steps being performed prior to the step of dividing saidweb into the yarn elements.

11. The method of producing a fabric from elements of two materials,

the element of one material being initially a flat strip,

the elements of the first material having insufficient or non-uniformtensile strength which prevents the elements from passing through aknitting operation without interruption of the knitting operation due torupture of said elements,

the elements of the second material having characteristics which renderthem amenable to knitting,

said method comprising,

feeding one element of the first material to each knitting station of aknitting machine, and

simultaneously feeding one element of said second material to eachknitting station of the knitting machine,

the two elements fed to each of said knitting stations being fed incontiguous relationship to each other to the needles of said knittingmachine so that in performing the knitting operation, said needlesengage both elements and deform said initially fiat strip elementsubstantially about the other element to thereby connect the elements toeach other with sufficient attachment to form a composite strand whichis capable of being knitted without rupture with other composite strandsinto a fabric by said needles.

12. The method of producing a fabric from elements of two materials,

the elements of both materials having insufficient or non-uniformtensile strength which prevents the element from passing through aknitting operation without interruption of the knitting operation due torupture of said elements,

the elements of one material being intially a fiat strip,

said method comprising,

feeding at least one element of each of said materials to each knittingstation of a knitting machine,

the elements fed to each of said knitting stations being fed incontiguous relationship to each other to the needles of said knittingmachine so that in performing the knitting operation, said needlesengage both elements and deform said initially fiat strip elementsubstantially about the other element to thereby connect the element toeach other with sufiicient attachment to form a composite strand whichis capable of being knitted with other composite strands into a fabricby said needles.

(References on following page) References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTSLepine 66125 Smith 66-202 Shaw 28-1 Johnson et a1. 28-1 14 2,678,5525/1954 Adams 66202 2,921,455 1/1960 Furge 66125 3,193,904 7/1965 Evanset a1. 28- 1 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

R. FELDBAUM, Assistant Examiner.

1. THE METHOD OF PRODUCING A FABRIC FROM YARN ELEMENTS AND STRIPELEMENTS, SAID YARN ELEMENTS HAVING NON-UNIFORM TENSILE STRENGTH ANDBEING INCAPABLE OF PASSING THROUGH A KNITTING OPERATION WITHOUTINTERRUPTION OF THE KNITTING OPERATION DUE TO RUPTURE OF SAID YARNELEMENTS, SAID STRIP ELEMENTS BEING AMENABLE TO KNITTING, SAID METHODCOMPRISING, FEEDING AT LEAST ONE OF SAID YARN ELEMENTS TO EACH KNITTINGSTATION OF A KNITTING MACHINE, SIMULTANEOUSLY FEEDING AT LEAST ONE STRIPELEMENT OF EACH KNITTING STATION OF THE KNITTING MACHINE, THE STRIP ANDYARN ELEMENTS FED TO EACH OF SAID KNITTING STATIONS BEING FED INCONTIGUOUS RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER TO THE NEEDLES OF SAID KNITTINGMACHINE SO THAT SAID NEEDLES ENGAGE BOTH ELEMENTS TO DEFORM SAID STRIPELEMENTS SUBSTANTIALLY ABOUT SAID YARN ELEMENTS TO FORM THEM INTO ACOMPOSITE STRAND WHICH IS CAPABLE OF BEING KNITTED WITH OTHER COMPOSITESTRANDS INTO A FABRIC BY SAID NEEDLES, AND KNITTING SAID COMPOSITESTRANDS ON SAID KNITTING MACHINE TO PRODUCE A FABRIC.